


Pass the Baton!: Light and Shadow on the Track!!!

by ZombiePanguin



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Sports, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Smut, M/M, Rivals to Lovers, Track and Field
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:27:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26097118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZombiePanguin/pseuds/ZombiePanguin
Summary: Which is worse: losing a race or the fact that you lost a race to some gorgeous, cocky upperclassman? Felix, a Garreg Mach University freshman with a track and field scholarship, is finally going to meet his greatest rival. Too bad it's his teammate.
Relationships: Felix Hugo Fraldarius/Sylvain Jose Gautier
Kudos: 10





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone, this is just a short first chapter exploring an idea I had. More to come.

Pain is something Felix is familiar with, physical pain especially. He has plenty of speed endurance as a 400-meter runner and is used to more brutal workouts. But, this pain is something different. This is a pain that runs deeper than his muscles and bones. This is the pain of allowing some red-headed himbo to beat him. Every. Single. Rep.

The men’s team ran 5 repeats of 200 meters at race pace with a full recovery, and while Felix rested his arms on his head during their rests, keeping his chest high to suck in as much oxygen as possible, this scarlet monster just smiled and laughed away with his other upperclassmen. Though, the upperclassmen couldn’t even hang onto this guy. He is something else. Tall, lean, full muscles. He excels in the 100 and 200-meter sprints and he was a sight to watch during this first week of the winter track season. Felix knew about him when looking to run for this college program, but he didn’t expect him to live up to his nickname: The Flash.

Felix thinks back to when they had their first team meeting. The Flash, whose actual name is Sylvain Gautier, led the icebreaker.

“If you’re wondering about my nickname, no, it’s not from my blazing speed on the track. It’s for my embarrassingly gorgeous mane, touched by all of the Sun gods and goddesses.”

_ I can’t believe he’s the team captain _ , Felix thought while watching the spectacle that is Sylvain. It also doesn’t help that he’s stunning. It’s actually borderline torture, to watch such good looks wasted on an ego too big for this world.

Felix feels his heart rate begin to calm and decides to start his cooldown. Nothing like a smooth mile to ease the body after a mostly satisfying workout. The plus with having The Flash in the lane next to you is there’s someone to race against. Felix never found a worthy opponent during his high school years and now, he may have finally found one.

“Hey!”

Felix nearly leaps out of his skin when Sylvain comes up behind him, slapping him on the back.

“Whoa, sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you there.” Sylvain smiles and falls into pace next to Felix.

Heat radiates in Felix’s cheeks. “You didn’t scare me. I was just in thought.”

The two keep jogging and Felix can see Sylvain peering at him out of the corner of his eyes.

“You know, it seems like you’re always lost in thought. You haven’t spoken much at practices.”

“Well, I’m here to practice, get better, and win races. I’ll talk to people when I have something worth saying.” Felix doesn’t enjoy being called out and The Flash seems to have a hyper-focus that is drilling into him, finding its way under his skin.

The two maintain eye contact for a long moment, then Sylvain breaks his gaze to look ahead, a smile spreading across his face. 

“Whatever you say. Your name is Felix, right?” He doesn’t even give Felix a chance to answer. “We’re having the first party at the track house tonight. You should come. And by should, I mean it’s pretty much required for the whole team. It’s good for bonding and it’s typically just fun as fuck.” Sylvain looks back at Felix and when Felix doesn’t respond, Sylvain continues. “I know you’d probably rather study or read a book or something, but trust me, it’ll be good to make friends early on. Especially with your teammates.”

For some reason, this cooldown isn’t really cooling Felix down. He much rather be left in thought, reflecting on his workout during his cooldown. The presence of Sylvain is breaking his focus and now he needs to go to a party tonight? With this hot, cocky piece of work being the host?

Sylvain seems unhindered by Felix’s silence and pushes on.

“I’ll leave my number with your bag. Feel free to text me when you decide to come and have some fun.”

Sylvain smiles once more, wide and genuine, then slaps Felix on the shoulder with almost too much power. He breaks off, and Felix focuses on finishing his cooldown despite still feeling the stinging ghost of his teammate’s hand left on his shoulder.


	2. Chapter 2

When Felix opens the door, he finds himself greeted with the silence of his roommate. Well, to be fair, his roommate does seem to be mumbling to himself with a biology textbook in one hand and a mechanical pencil in the other. Usually, athletes dorm together, but the personality survey that Felix submitted must have trumped that. They paired him with another loner. It’s been a few months since the start of the academic year, and they’ve talked very little.

Luckily, this suits Felix well. He walks over to his desk, drops his workout bag, and collapses into his chair. His body burns from this first week of the winter track season, which both excites him, but also worries him. He was doing off-season workouts during the fall, taking what the coaches were giving and going even further. He could have met up with others from the team, or maybe have worked out a bit with the cross country team to work on his endurance, but that would mean confining himself to workouts that may not be the best for him.

And Felix needs the best.

His moment of rest is short. He grabs his workout log from his bag and types his day’s workout into a spreadsheet. Performance analysis is the easiest way to improve and it gives him something to work towards. It shows him what to fix.

After transcribing the workout, he sits for a few minutes with his eyes closed and lets out a sigh.

_ Do I really want to go to a party tonight? I’m sure I’m not missing much. _

An image of Sylvain’s smile pops into his mind and it annoys him. He silently challenges Sylvain during every sprint workout and he comes out the loser. Felix dislikes when people are better than him. Especially when they’re that much better. Work ethic is important for Felix. He knows no one works harder or smarter than him. So, how could someone be beating him so easily?

“Hey, you alright over there?”

Felix is almost startled by his roommate's voice and quickly turns his head. His roommate keeps his eyes on his book.

“I’m fine Linhardt.”

Linhardt marks his place in his book and places it on his desk and turns so he can face Felix. His gaze looks tired, yet focused.

“Trust me, I would love to believe that and just go back to my work. But, I can literally feel your emotions right now. I’m going to have to guess it relates to your sport because this was a sudden shift in energy.”

Linhardt takes the position of therapist, putting all his focus on Felix which annoys him. He doesn’t need help from his roommate.

“I’m fine, really.”

Felix and Linhardt stare at each other, Felix with narrowed eye concentration and Linhardt with a dreamy half-closed gaze.

_ How the hell did we get paired together? _

“Okay, well. Just know I’m here. Also, remember that you’re in a bigger pond now. A lot more fish, many of which can and will be larger than you. Make sure to grow up fast and avoid the sharp and shiny.”

Linhardt smiles and jumps back into his research, a switch from conversation to internal focus in an instant. Maybe they’re more similar than Felix realizes.

“One more thing,” Linhardt says without turning his head. “Please go take a shower.”

Felix instinctively smells himself and hates himself a little for doing so. He grabs fresh clothes and heads to the shared showers.

…

Felix walks into the room in underwear and flip flops and with his hair down and blow-dried. He finds Linhardt resting on his own bed, staring at nothing in particular. When Felix walks past him to get to his dresser, Linhardt’s head turns, slowly.

Felix stops and narrows his eyes at Linhardt. “What?”

Linhardt shrugs on his bed. “I just think you look less depressed when your hair is down.”

Felix lets out a small laugh. He grabs out some clothes: a black and white striped tee, black jeans, and his black leather jacket. When Felix turns, he finds Linhardt with a scrunch in his face.

“Well, that outfit will negate any effects the hair gives you.” Linhardt returns to his upward gazing.

“Well, I have a party to go to tonight. I rather not, but I just have to consider it a part of being on the team.” Felix begins putting on his clothes, almost reluctantly.

“Well you do have to meet the whole track team to be a part of them, don’t you?” Linhardt says.

“How do you know it’s a track party?”

Linhardt smiles slightly like his lips are holding a secret that he’s dying to share.

“Well, you see, I actually have friends. Unlike you. And one of those friends is on the track team. He’s a jumper of sorts. I don’t really understand the sport, but he’s super excited to be here and ready to ‘inject his fighting spirit’ into the team.” Lindhardt indistinctly waves his hands in the air, as if in mock celebration. He then drops his hands to the bed. “It should be easy to spot him. Shorter, spikey blue hair. His body moves faster than his brain can think. I like his spunk, though.”

Felix takes a moment to consider all of this information and realizes that it’s the most the two of them have talked since the start of the school year. And he actually didn’t hate it.

Felix is about to respond when Linhardt suddenly bursts out.

“Yes! I’ve figured it out! I knew the idle talk would help me.” He quickly jumps into his seat and is once again neck-deep in his biology textbook.

Felix decides to just finish getting ready and deal with this party the way he would deal with a workout: for the purpose of betterment.

He grabs his jacket and the piece of paper with Sylvain’s number. His body has a rush of sensation when looking at Sylvain’s handwriting and his shoulder tingles.

_ Stupid _ , Felix thinks while he pockets the number and heads out into the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
